City College of San Francisco is improving and headed in the right direction. We're endorsing incumbents Thea Selby and John Rizzo, and newcomer Victor Olivieri, Ph.D. All are straight allies.
In her endorsement questionnaire, Selby told us that she is committed to serving with the goal of making City College fiscally stable. She said that the trustees have hired a permanent chancellor, reaffirmed the college's accreditation for seven years, and, with the support of those who voted for Proposition W, implemented Free City College, which eliminates tuition for San Francisco residents.
The suicide of a trans student earlier this year highlighted what some students see as a homophobic or transphobic culture at the school. Selby outlined several changes underway at City College, including a chosen name policy for students. Gender-neutral restrooms are in process, she wrote. And she said the district needs to find the money to keep the Queer Resource Center at the main campus open during summer months. She said that the college's other campuses need QRCs too.
To fund these, and other ideas, Selby is advocating for a greater portion of Prop W money. (She said the college is receiving only about 10 percent at the moment.) "We need to get our fair share of funding from Prop W, which I believe is at least 51 percent," she wrote.
As for course offerings, Selby would like to see more online and hybrid classes and better use of available capacity at the Chinatown campus.
Rizzo also fought to save the college when it was at risk of losing its accreditation several years ago, and he co-authored a resolution to create affordable housing for 500 students and 200 teachers and staff. He created the local hire policy at the college, which championed the hiring of economically disadvantaged San Francisco residents.
He supports additional resources for trans students, and he would like to strengthen mental health and counseling services for them.
He would prefer that the QRC be open year-round, he wrote in his questionnaire.
Olivieri is an educator and was a senior administrator at UC Riverside. He pointed out that the college has not recovered from the accreditation crisis — it is still under-enrolled — and wrote in his questionnaire that a comprehensive curriculum review and improvements to class schedules are "desperately needed to ameliorate the deficit situation."
All three would help the college continue on its path to stability.
Rizzo also fought to save the college when it was at risk of losing its accreditation several years ago, and he co-authored a resolution to create affordable housing for 500 students and 200 teachers and staff. He created the local hire policy at the college, which championed the hiring of economically disadvantaged San Francisco residents.
He supports additional resources for trans students, and he would like to strengthen mental health and counseling services for them.
He would prefer that the QRC be open year-round, he wrote in his questionnaire.
Olivieri is an educator and was a senior administrator at UC Riverside. He pointed out that the college has not recovered from the accreditation crisis — it is still under-enrolled — and wrote in his questionnaire that a comprehensive curriculum review and improvements to class schedules are "desperately needed to ameliorate the deficit situation."
All three would help the college continue on its path to stability.